External Drive Chassis Storage Array

ABSTRACT

The invention in at least one embodiment includes a system that includes a chassis having a frame present within a housing where the frame includes at least two plates having a base and two grills running widthwise along and on opposite ends of the base, a plurality of walls between the at least two plates, and at least one baffle running between the plates at an angle to the plates; at least one power supply; and a plurality of fans electrically connected to the at least one power supply; wherein there are at least two air flow paths through the chassis that pass through at least one fan and pass at least one baffle through a duct defined by the housing and the frame. In at least one embodiment, the chassis receives at least one storage drive.

This patent application is a continuation patent application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/968,459, filed Dec. 14, 2015 and now U.S.Pat. No. 9,710,028, which is a continuation patent application of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/833,246, filed Mar. 15, 2013 and now U.S.Pat. No. 9,214,194, which claims priority to of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/771,078, filed Mar. 1, 2013 which are hereby allincorporated by reference in their entirety.

I. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In at least one embodiment, the invention includes a system having achassis including: a housing; a frame present within the housing, theframe having at least two plates having a base and two grills runningwidthwise along the base, a plurality of walls between the at least twoplates, and at least one baffle running between the plates at an angleto the plates; at least one power supply; and a plurality of fanselectrically connected to the at least one power supply; wherein atleast one first path extends through one of the grills into a cavitydefined by the housing and one of the plates through an opening in theplate base into at least one respective fan through spaces defined bythe walls at an end of the chassis opposite the grill, at least onesecond path extends through spaces defined by the other walls throughthe other fans opposing the fans in the first path into an opening intoa cavity defined by the other plate and the housing out through thegrill of the plate at the end of the base opposite to a start of thesecond path, and the at least one baffle separates the first path fromthe second path. In at least one embodiment, the two paths provide twodistinct areas to contain storage drives with pathways that providefront to back airflow through the two isolated areas. The arrangement ofcomponents in at least one embodiment allows for direct airflow in sucha way that cool air is input to both distinct areas without allowing hotair from the front area to enter the second area and vice versa.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes two longitudinal duct walls running lengthwise between theplates defining an area in which the at least one power supply resides.In a further embodiment to the prior embodiment, the spaces betweenneighboring walls are substantially equal other than the space betweenthe longitudinal duct walls. In a further embodiment to either of theprior two embodiments, at least one first path includes two paths eachrunning through different fans, and the at least one second pathincludes two paths each running through different fans from the firstpath fans. A further embodiment to the other embodiments in thisparagraph, the system further including a grill panel between the twolongitudinal duct walls. A further embodiment to the other embodimentsin this paragraph, each grill includes a solid blank aligned with thetwo longitudinal duct walls. A further embodiment to the otherembodiments in this paragraph, there are a plurality of spaces forstorage drives are defined on either side of the two longitudinal ductwalls in the front and the rear of the chassis.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes a plurality of storage drives electrically connected to the atleast one power supply. A further embodiment to the prior embodiment,each storage drive includes a housing enclosing a drive and having aplurality of openings passing through at least two sides of the housing.A further embodiment to the other embodiments in this paragraph, eachstorage drive includes at least one communication connector and a powerconnector. A further embodiment to the other embodiments in thisparagraph, each storage drive includes a handle.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes mounting brackets attached to the housing.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes a power switch electrically connected to the at least one powersupply.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes an alert system electrically connected to the at least onepower supply having a circuit detecting when a power supply has quitworking and a silence button.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes wiring running from the at least one power supply to aplurality of plugs with each plug being associated with a respectivespace defined by the neighboring walls and the wiring for the respectivespace passing through a grill.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes a plurality of wiring harness supports running along at leastone grill in the front of the chassis and at least one grill in the rearof the chassis.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the system furtherincludes at least one cavity baffle present in at least one of thecavities defined by the housing and the frame. In a further embodimentto the prior embodiment, the cavity baffle is located on a side of thefans opposite from the end of the plate grill through which the flowpath passes.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the housing includesan upper housing having three walls; and a lower cover that defines aspace. In a further embodiment to the embodiments in the priorparagraphs, the housing includes a top, a bottom, and two side wallsconnected together to define a space with open ends.

In a further embodiment to the above embodiments, the frame furtherincludes two opposing walls running lengthwise along the base.

In at least one embodiment according to the invention, the systemincludes a chassis that enables insertion of external storage drive intoit with no human contact with the physical disk contained in the storagedrive. In at least one embodiment, humans only touch the physical diskwhen it is initially installed into the storage drive. From then onward,only the outside of the external storage drive is touched and not thephysical disk itself. The storage drives operate within the chassiswhile also being able to act as a removable drive from the chassis andthen act as a standalone drive that can be attached individually to anycomputer without use of the chassis. This cannot be done with currentmethods where a physical disk placed in a tray and slid into existingchassis, where in order for the drive to operate, it needs to beinserted into the chassis and cannot operate standalone.

II. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements. The use of cross-hatching and shadingwithin the drawings is not intended as limiting the type of materialsthat may be used to manufacture the invention. The use of arrow lines inthe figures is to show air flow through the system.

FIG. 1 illustrates a partially transparent front perspective view of atleast one embodiment according to the invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates a front perspective view of a frame according to atleast one embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2B illustrates an enlargedside view of a section of the frame where the rear is on the left andthe front is on the right of the figure. FIG. 2C illustrates a schematicside view of the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2B. FIG. 2D illustratesan alternative embodiment to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2C. InFIGS. 2C and 2D, the front of the chassis is on the left and the rear ison the right.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate an example wall for use in at least oneembodiment according to the invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a top view of a frame according to at least oneembodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate front perspective views of alternativeembodiments of the chassis according to the invention with FIG. 5Billustrating the chassis with inserted storage drives.

FIG. 6 illustrates a side view of the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1and 5A.

FIG. 7 illustrates an internal view of at least one embodiment accordingto the invention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate a rear view of the embodiment illustrated inFIG. 5B with storage drives inserted into the chassis with FIG. 8B anenlarged view of a portion of FIG. 8A.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of how a power cable may be attached to astorage drive according to at least one embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 10A-10D illustrate examples of a storage drive according to theinvention.

FIG. 11 illustrates an internal view of at least one embodimentaccording to the invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example drive controller attached to four storagedrives with a wiring harness according to at least one embodiment of theinvention.

The figures are meant to provide examples of the flexibility provided bythe invention and not limitations on the scope of the invention.

III. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention in at least one embodiment provides a chassis into whichmultiple storage drives are capable of being inserted and air flow pathsthat travel in part through ducts and are controlled by air movementmeans such as fans. In at least one embodiment, the storage drives arehot-swappable. In at least one embodiment, the system includes at leastone power supply for providing power to the inserted storage drives andair movement means. In at least one embodiment to either of the aboveembodiments, the system includes attachment points for routingconnection cables to at least one external drive controller although inan alternative embodiment the drive controller is present in thechassis, for example, occupying one or more drive slots or extending thehousing above the frame to accommodate the drive controller(s). In atleast one embodiment, the storage drives are external hard drives sizedto fit into the chassis slots. In a further embodiment, the externalhard drives are a protective case (or housing) around an internal harddrive. In a further embodiment under either of the prior twoembodiments, the storage drive is removable and usable to connect to anindividual computer directly. The removability of the storage drivesallows for them to be swapped when one storage drive becomessubstantially full or on demand. In at least one embodiment, when aplurality of storage drives are inserted into the chassis, the chassishouses, powers, cools and manages the inserted storage drives whileallowing for individual storage drives to be removed.

FIG. 1 illustrates a partially transparent view of an example embodimentof a chassis 100 that includes twelve (12) slots 102 in the front andtwelve (12) slots 104 in the rear for the insertion of storage drives190. Although twenty-four (24) slots are illustrated, it should beunderstood form this disclosure that the number of slots can vary fromthat illustrated such as from one slot in the front and one slot in therear to multiple slots depending on the desired density, spaceavailable, and storage drive size. The illustrated configuration depictsthe use of 3.5 inch regular hard drives, but if 3.5 inch low-profiledrives are used, then thirty-two (32) slots would be provided. A furtherexample is if 2.5 inch drives are used, then the slot density mayincrease to ninety-six (96) slots and the overall size of the slotswould shrink along with potentially the chassis height or alternativelythe drives could be stacked. A similar increase in density would resultfrom the use of solid state storage drives.

The illustrated chassis 100 in FIGS. 1-2D includes a duct on top 128 andon the bottom 129 for routing air flow through the chassis 100 using theillustrated fans 110A, 110B. In at least one embodiment, the first pathfor air flow is through the front top grill 124 into the top duct 128(illustrated in FIG. 2C) to be drawn in by the pair of fans 110A to flowpast the baffle 130 into the rear slots 104 and any inserted storagedrives out to the rear of the chassis 100 as illustrated, for example,in FIG. 2B. The second path for air flow is through the frontslots/storage drives past the bottom side 1302 of the baffle 130 throughthe fan 110B into the lower duct 129 (illustrated in FIG. 2C) of thechassis 100 to then pass out through bottom rear grill 126. In a furtherembodiment illustrated in FIG. 2C, there is at least one additional(optional) cavity baffle 131 present in the upper duct 128 and/or thelower duct 129 to provide a buffer (or block) to the air going in thewrong direction through the chassis. In another alternative embodiment,the air flow paths are switched between top and bottom. In a furtheralternative embodiment, there is a cooling mechanism such as a chiller,a coil or other conduit present in the duct for the air to pass over tocool it. In a further alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2D, thefront set 1029 of storage drives is offset relative to the rear set 1049of storage drives, which would eliminate the need for baffles 131, todefine top duct 128′ and bottom duct 129′. In at least one embodiment,the shelf 1224 that supports the rear set 1049 of storage drives wouldbe supported by the attached housing or alternatively by support membersextending between the plate and the lower housing surface (or anotherplate of the chassis). One advantage of the offset orientation is toincrease the air flow through the system while maintaining the height ofthe chassis by having the duct present only above or below the storagedrives. FIGS. 2C and 2D illustrate how fans 110A, 1106 may have avariety of orientations while still providing movement of air along therespective flow paths (illustrates as dashed arrow lines).

In a further embodiment, each drive slot includes a switch (or sensor)to detect the presence of a storage drive. Examples of locations for theswitch include along the sides of the drive slot or on any structurethat is present on the internal end of the drive slot. The switch is incommunication with a fan controller to control operation of the fanproviding air for that drive slot such that if all the slots are empty,the fan controller will turn the fan off until a storage drive isinserted into one of the associated drive slots.

In another alternative embodiment, a single large fan or HVAC vent couldbe attached to the front of the chassis and an exhaust vent to the rearof the chassis where the inlet for the rear drives would come from thefront of the top tray and the inlet for the front drives would be fedinto the front of the front drives. The exhaust for the front driveswould be at the rear of the bottom tray and the exhaust for the reardrives would be through the front of the rear drives. This air flowcould also reverse top and bottom trays (e.g., inlet for rear drivescould come from front of the bottom tray and exhaust for the frontdrives could be the rear of the top tray). However, air flow isconventionally inlet (cold) from a chassis front and exhaust (hot) fromthe chassis rear, so you would not typically reverse this.

The external cover 180, the internal frame 118, and the grills 124, 126define the upper and lower ducts 128, 129 that exist in the definedcavities. FIG. 2A illustrates an example of the internal frame thatincludes an upper plate 120, a lower plate 121 and a plurality of walls132 (see also FIGS. 3A and 3B). In at least one embodiment, the upperplate 120 and the lower plate 121 are substantially identical althoughin the drawings they are illustrated as being similar to each otherwhere the lower plate is a longer version of the upper plate. In atleast one embodiment the plates each include a base 122 with a pair ofvertical walls 123 running on opposite sides of the base 122 and twogrills 124, 126 that run widthwise on either end of the base 122 asillustrated, for example, in FIG. 4. The base 122 includes a pluralityof holes 1222 that connect with the walls 132 (illustrated, for example,in FIGS. 3A and 3B) and a pair of openings 1224 on which the fans 110A,110B are mounted on to control the flow of air through the chassis 100as illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 2B-2D, which includes arrowsdepicting the direction of the air flow. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate anexample of a wall that includes four tabs 1322 that extend from it forengaging the plate holes 1222 where the free end of the tab overlapswith the base 122 as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 4. The wall 132in at least one optional embodiment includes a curved slot 1324extending in from one end, which allows for an inserted storage drive190 to be grabbed on either side for removal in addition to any handlepresent on the storage drive 190.

The illustrated external cover 180 includes two pieces: an upper housing182 and a lower cover 184. The upper housing 182 as illustrated, forexample, in FIGS. 5A and 5B includes three walls 1822, 1824, 1826 thatcover three sides of the frame 118, which in the illustrated embodimentsare the two sides and top of the frame 118. The lower cover 184 enclosesthe lower duct 129 and the frame 118 as illustrated, for example, inFIG. 6. In an alternative embodiment, the housing includes a cover witha top, a bottom and two sides that slides over the frame. In analternative embodiment, the housing includes a top cover and a bottomcover to enclose the ducts and two small side walls that cover theillustrated openings between the end of the walls 132 (see, e.g., FIGS.2A and 2B for an example of the cavities).

The illustrated embodiments also include two optional mounting brackets186 on either side of the chassis front that are held in place betweenthe upper housing 182 and the frame 118. In a further embodiment thealternative brackets are present instead on either side of the chassisrear or alternatively the brackets are present in the front and the rearof the chassis. One potential use of these brackets is for mounting thechassis in a server rack. Based on this disclosure, it should beappreciated that a variety of bolt holes may be used other than thatillustrated in the drawings.

In at least one embodiment with at least one power supply 112, there isa central duct 142 that runs down the internal frame lengthwise thatprovides a separate air path for cooling the at least one power supply112. In a further embodiment, the central duct 142 may include at leastone fan for pulling air in and through the central duct 142. FIGS. 1, 5Aand 5B also illustrate an example of an alternative embodiment thatincludes an optional central grill 1422 that allows air to pass throughthe optional central duct that runs down the middle of the frame 118where each of the two paths (i.e., first and second) have separateduplicative mirror paths that are separated by the central duct 142. Inan alternative embodiment, the central duct provides the storage areafor at least one power supply 112 that is inserted from the rear andattaches to a respective jack/connector 1122 that then powers thestorage drives and the fans 110A, 110B as illustrated, for example, inFIG. 7. FIG. 7 also illustrates an example of two jacks for a chassisthat is designed for redundant power supplies.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate the presence of two redundant power supplies112 and an on-off switch 114 for the system. Although redundant powersupplies 112 are present, it should be appreciated based on thisdisclosure that just one power supply 112 may be used or a plurality ofpower supplies 112 may be used in the system. The illustrated embodimentshows the presence of a reset button 116 that can be used to silence orotherwise turn off an alert for a period of time such as a predeterminedlength of time or until a replacement power supply 112 has been insertedin an alternative embodiment. The alert in at least one embodiment isfor a power supply that has quit working with examples of the alertbeing an audio (e.g., beep, buzz or other sound) or visual alert. Theillustrated power supplies 112 also include a wire bracket 1124 to flipover the inserted power cable to assist with securing the power cable(not illustrated) to the power supply 112. Also illustrated is thepresence of handles 1126 on the inserted power supply.

In at least one embodiment, the power cables for the individual storagedrives run through the lower duct 129 such that the power cable 1128passes out through the respective round opening 1292 for the storagedrive 190 as illustrated in FIG. 9 that shows a power cable 1128connected to an inserted storage drive 190. It should be appreciatedthat an alternative arrangement would be to flip the storage drive overto have the power cable come through the top grill 124 for connection tothe storage drive.

FIGS. 10A-10D illustrate the front and side views of a storage drive 190that would have a plurality of holes 1902 passing through its rear (suchas that illustrated in FIG. 12), sides, and front to facilitate airflowthrough and around the internal components of the storage drive. In atleast one embodiment, the storage drive 190 includes a housing 192 forprotecting an internal hard drive. FIG. 10D illustrates an alternativefront face 194A for use with the storage drive that includes a pluralityof scallop shape openings 194A2 to assist with air flow through thestorage drive 190 although other shaped openings could be used instead.Both illustrated front faces 194, 194A of the storage drive 190 providean example of a handle for removing the storage drive 190 afterinsertion by use of a thumb screw 1944 (which in an alternativeembodiment is removed and reinsert when the storage drive is to beremoved) although other handles are possible such as a post, a screw, abolt, a tab, a J- or U-shaped member extending from the front, a fingerhole (which could also provide additional air flow through the storagedrive). Although a USB and an external SATA connector 1946, 1948 areillustrated other connectors could be used or take their place oralternatively just one computer connector is present. In an alternativeembodiment, there is a backplane with at least one connector present atthe internal end of the slot that provides a connection point for powerand/or a communications connector(s) of the respective storage driveinstead of the illustrated front connection. Also illustrated is anoptional off-on switch 1949 that allows for controlling whether thestorage drive 190 is on or off.

In an alternative optional embodiment, the system includes one or moreLEDs, LCDs, or other type of display proximate each slot or on thestorage drive to provide an indication of whether the internal physicaldisk has power, is operational, needs to be removed, and/or statusinformation. This type of display will assist the operator indetermining the status of the drive and indicate which drive is to beremoved and/or serviced.

FIG. 11 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a wall 132A having arear stop (or vertical wall) 1322 extending horizontally from the wall132A to provide a stop to the depth of insertion of the storage drive190. This configuration allows for the insertion depth to be controlledand to align the front of the storage drive 190 for insertion of cablesand to prevent the storage drive 190 from being inserted further whenone or more cables are attached to the front of the storage drive 190.In at least one embodiment, the vertical wall 1322 extends partiallyinto the space 102 (or 104) between neighboring walls 132A to controlthe air flow through the storage drive 190. In a further embodiment, thevertical wall is space from the internal end of the drive slot (forexample, the width of the slot) and substantially covers the entirecross-section of the drive slot and includes at least one hinge thatallows the wall to pivot out of the slot and against one of the walls132A when a storage drive is inserted, but otherwise substantiallyblocks air flow through an unoccupied drive slot.

In at least one embodiment, there are a plurality of wiring bracketspresent along the grill for holding the wiring harness 210 coming froman external drive controller 200 like that illustrated in FIG. 12, whichshows multiple storage drives 190 sitting on top of the controller 200and the wiring 210 with connectors 205 (twelve are illustrated althoughother numbers of connectors could be present) that would run todifferent storage drives 190 from the drive controller 200 where onewiring harness in the illustrated example would connect to four storagedrives although other ratios of wiring harness to storage drives couldbe used. The brackets help secure the wiring harness to the chassis andprovide support for the wire harness to support any cable that extendsfrom the wiring harness to the respective storage drive.

FIGS. 1 and 5A illustrate an alternative embodiment for the chassis 100where the lower plate 121 includes a ridge 1212 that helps to secure thestorage drives 190 inside the chassis 100. This is accomplished in partby the ridge 1212 extending above the base 122 of the plate 120, 121along the back side of the grill 124. Other examples of how to securethe storage drives into the chassis include, but are not limited to, ascrew, a latch, a bar, a clip, and a dimple.

The use of dimensions in the above disclosure is done with therecognition of manufacturing tolerances for components.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the root terms “include”and/or “have”, when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans plus function elements (if any) in the claims below are intendedto include any structure, or material, for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

As used above “substantially,” “generally,” and other words of degreeare relative modifiers intended to indicate permissible variation fromthe characteristic so modified. It is not intended to be limited to theabsolute value or characteristic which it modifies but rather possessingmore of the physical or functional characteristic than its opposite, andpreferably, approaching or approximating such a physical or functionalcharacteristic.

Although the present invention has been described in terms of particularexample embodiments, it is not limited to those embodiments. Alternativeembodiments, examples, and modifications which would still beencompassed by the invention may be made by those skilled in the art,particularly in light of the foregoing teachings.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations andmodifications of the preferred and alternative embodiments describedabove can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scopeof the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than asspecifically described herein.

1. A system comprising a chassis including: a housing; a frame presentwithin said housing, said frame having at least two plates, each platehaving a base and two grills running widthwise along and on oppositeends of said base, a plurality of walls between said at least twoplates, and at least one baffle running between said plates at an angleto said plates; and wherein at least one first path extends through oneof said grills into a cavity defined by said housing and one of saidplates through at least one opening in said plate base through spacesdefined by said walls at an end of the chassis opposite said grill, atleast one second path extends through spaces defined by said other wallsinto at least one opening in said second plate base into a cavitydefined by the other plate and said housing out through said grill ofsaid plate at the end of the base opposite to a start of the secondpath, and said at least one baffle separates the first path from thesecond path.
 2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising atleast one power supply.
 3. The system according to claim 2, furthercomprising two longitudinal duct walls running lengthwise between saidplates, wherein said at least one first path includes at least two pathseach running through different openings, and said at least one secondpath includes at least two paths each running through different openingsfrom the first path such that said at least one first path and saidsecond path flow in the same direction.
 4. The system according to claim2, further comprising a plurality of storage drives electricallyconnected to said at least one power supply.
 5. The system according toclaim 4, wherein each storage drive includes a housing enclosing a driveand having a plurality of openings passing through at least two sides ofsaid housing.
 6. The system according to claim 5, wherein each storagedrive includes at least one communication connector and a powerconnector.
 7. The system according to claim 4, wherein each storagedrive includes a combined connector for communications and power.
 8. Thesystem according to claim 4, wherein each storage drive includes ahandle.
 9. The system according to claim 2, further comprising wiringrunning from said at least one power supply to a plurality of plugs witheach plug being associated with a respective space defined by saidneighboring walls and said wiring for the respective space passingthrough a grill.
 10. The system according to claim 2, further comprisinga plurality of wiring harness supports running along at least one grillin the front of said chassis and at least one grill in the rear of saidchassis.
 11. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a grillpanel between said two longitudinal duct walls.
 12. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein each grill includes a solid blank aligned with saidtwo longitudinal duct walls.
 13. The system according to claim 1,wherein a plurality of spaces for storage drives are defined in thefront and the rear of said chassis.
 14. The system according to claim 1,further comprising at least one cavity baffle present in at least one ofsaid cavities defined by said housing and said frame.
 15. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein said housing includes an upper housinghaving three walls; and a lower cover that defines a space.
 16. Thesystem according to claim 1, wherein said housing includes a top, abottom, and two side walls connected together to define a space withopen ends.
 17. The system according to claim 1, wherein said framefurther includes two opposing walls running lengthwise along said base.18. The system according to claim 1, wherein said frame further includesa first shelf and a second shelf connected by said at least one baffle,said first shelf connects to a plurality of walls attached to the baseof one of said at least two plates such that said first path is abovesaid first shelf, and said second shelf connects to a plurality of wallsattached to the base of another of said at least two plates such thatsaid second path is below said second shelf.
 19. The system of claim 1,wherein each wall includes a rear stop extending from a respective walland extending perpendicular to said plurality of walls.
 20. The systemaccording to claim 19, wherein: each plate base having a plurality ofslots, each wall between said plates having a plurality of tabsextending from a top edge and/or a bottom edge of said wall, each tabengages a respective slot in said plate bases, and said walls fasten tosaid plate bases by the overlapping tabs and said slot base.